Child Development

As children develop from infants to teens to adults they go through a series of developmental stages that are important to all aspects of their personhood including physical, intellectual, emotional and social. The proper role of the parent is to provide encouragement, support and access to activities that enable the child to master key developmental tasks. A parent is their child’s first teacher and should remain their best teacher throughout life. Functioning as a coach, the parent exposes a child to age appropriate challenges to encourage development as well as to experiences that allows the child to explore on their own and learn from interacting with their environment. Child Development specialists have learned that from birth children are goal directed to experiment and learn from each experience. Child Development experts have taken the concept of scaffolding from the building trades. Just as scaffolding is put up to support the structure of the building as it is being built and gradually taken down as the building is able to stand on its own, a parent needs to provide the necessary support for a child to allow them to safely and productively explore and learn from their environment. As the child matures and develops mastery the scaffolding is removed or changed to allow the child to become more independent. If the child is not quite ready, the support is reinstated and then gradually withdrawn once again. The information here provides parents with the knowledge and guidelines and tools to provide the support, guidance and learning experiences necessary for their child to grow and develop according to his/her unique developmental blueprint.

Understanding your child is one of the most important things that you should learn as a parent. It is very helpful in becoming effective in guiding and nurturing your child as they grow and mature. You need to bear in mind that your child has a unique...

Play activities are essential to healthy development for children and adolescents. Research shows that 75% of brain development occurs after birth. Learn how to encourage play that has long lasting value.

Information on temperament and how it effects personality development in children from Child Development Institute. Discusses how to understand your child's temperament and how to handle the difficult to raise child.

Children go through distinct periods of development as they move from infants to young adults. During each of these stages multiple changes in the development of the brain are taking place. What occurs and approximately when these developments take place are genetically determined. However, environmental circumstances and exchanges with key individuals within that environment have significant influence on how each child benefits from each developmental event.

Your child is four and it’s likely you’ll be looking ahead to him starting school soon. There is a nagging worry that can trouble many parents: how do you know if your child is at the right level and has the skills he needs to fit in at school? How can you make sure he […]

Are you an expectant mom preparing for the birth of your eagerly anticipated child? Or are you a protective partner stressing over the arrival of your new responsibility? If your bundle of joy has left you with frayed nerves, you can toss your worrying aside and instead think about the tech treats you’ll be able to […]

Parents dread having to deal with meltdowns. However, parents of children with ADHD may face more meltdowns than other parents. Children with ADHD are more prone to meltdowns for a number of reasons. Often their brain circuitry for emotional regulation is dysfunctional in which it takes less to trigger an anger episode that lasts for […]

As your baby gets older she’ll be developing so quickly that you will barely notice the changes. It’s neat to watch her grow and develop, see her personality starting to emerge, and it’s natural to want to help her, but how do you know what she should be capable of by now or what you […]

Does your child have a vivid imagination? Do they love telling tales of curious creatures? Thanks to storytelling apps, your child can turn their imaginary tales into virtual stories. Adding a child-friendly storytelling app to your iPhone or iPad can encourage your little one’s active imagination while keeping them busy for hours. Check out these […]

Your baby is now a toddler and at 18 months it’s exciting to see how quickly she’s learning and developing. She’ll have a mind of her own and will make her wants clear on everything from which clothes she wants to wear to what she wants to eat. She’s developing quickly and it can be […]

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The information on this website is solely for informational purposes. IT IS NOT INTENDED TO PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. Neither Child Development Institute, LLC nor Dr. Myers nor any of the editors, columnists or authors take responsibility for any possible consequences from any action taken which results from reading or following the information contained in this information. The publication of this information does not constitute the practice of medicine or psychology, and this information does not replace the advice of your physician or mental health care provider. Before undertaking any course of treatment, the reader must seek the advice of their physician or other health care provider. See additional information